Hello ResetEra community,
The following is a summary from a meeting that took place on November 24th, 2019 involving ResetEra staff and the TransEra community. As the facilitator of this meeting, I can attest that the information contained within is accurate and best represents what was said from both parties. Additionally, this summary has been reviewed and approved by both ResetEra staff and TransEra community. It is being provided to you, the community, in the interests of openness and accountability.
I would like to personally thank everyone involved in the meeting for participating and taking the time to care about the ResetEra community. I believe the meeting was successful in its objectives and productive for everyone involved. If anyone from the meeting would like to chime in here and share their perspective, they are more than welcome to do so.
The meeting opened with a foreword from SweetNicole.
Immediately following the foreword, ResetEra staff started the conversation with an apology from the General Manager on behalf of the staff, and a guarantee that policy revisions will be coming soon. Implementing those revisions will be a top priority as they close out 2019.
After that the meeting followed a question and answer format, a summary of which can be found below.
Following the Q&A, the meeting closed with thanks from everyone involved with commitments to continue to work together to help build a better community and environment for all. The situation has been a learning experience for ResetEra staff and opened their eyes to areas where they can make improvements. They apologized again for the hurt that TransERA has faced and hope that their commitment to action will restore faith. There will be more details in their upcoming thread.
Q: Question about what type of moderation changes the community will see as part of the policy overhaul.
A: There will be a more detailed announcement at a later date, but there will be longer bans for bigotry across the board, and new measures to remove relevant repeat offenders more quickly. Moderation will continue to be a team effort, and bans will still be discussed, but individual staff with relevant perspectives will have greater latitude to remove problem users in a thread more quickly.
Q: Concern about drive-by trolling in sensitive threads, especially posts that are intended to be antagonistic to the trans community.
A: As part of the policy review, ResetEra staff is specifically looking at ways that they can more effectively address microaggressions and posters that use them to disrupt sensitive discussions. Genuine questions are fine, but obstinately talking over marginalized members who have lived these issues is not.
Q: Concern about bad-faith posters and how best to address them.
A: Communities tend to be more familiar with the threads that affect them, and therefore may be able to identify bad faith posters and subtle trolls better than staff. Users can send detailed reports to provide relevant context or example posts (either through the report system or by PM to a mod/mod captain). If a pattern of behavior can be shown, this makes it much easier for the mod team to address the issue.
Q: Concern about some members asking inappropriate questions in sensitive threads.
A: ResetEra staff will try to be more proactive in making guideline staff posts in sensitive threads. As part of this, ResetEra staff can point out threads and resources where people acting in good faith can have their questions answered.
Q: Question about how staff will identify community unrest.
A: The staff will work to establish a community relations team to improve communication between staff and members, and ResetEra staff is exploring ideas like Q&As that might clear up confusion on moderation and site policy. The team will also engage in more direct outreach.
Q: Concern about intentional or willful misgendering (for example, misgendering a transwoman only after finding out that she had done something horrible or criminal).
A: If any poster has intentionally misgendered someone, and ResetEra staff can determine that intent, that poster will be permanently banned.
Q: Question on people asking questions that reinforce bigoted stereotypes (such as on trans athletes) that have already been addressed in a thread.
A: ResetEra staff does have a staff post that specifically addresses the misconceptions on trans athletes, and ResetEra staff bans users that concern troll in sensitive threads. If there is a staff post already in the thread, ResetEra staff will take harsh action against members that ignore it. This is something ResetEra staff has done and will continue to do.
Q: Question on sensitivity/intersectionality training for staff.
A: ResetEra staff tries their best to promote intersectionality by having a widely diverse staff roster, and by having the staff who have relevant perspectives lead moderation discussions. In addition, part of the role of mod captains is to identify any blind spots that moderators may have and to reach out and correct this when noticed.
Q: Question on meetings with other marginalized groups on ERA
A: ResetEra staff has been discussing this extensively over the past week and will touch upon it in their upcoming public post.
Q: Question on restricting warned posters from returning to a thread they were warned in.
A: ResetEra staff feel it makes more sense to simply ban a warned poster if they return to the same thread and continue the behavior they were warned for.
Q: Question about promoting further diversity among staff, and plans to add additional staff in the future.
A: ResetEra staff is going to be looking at bringing on new staff with the same spirit that they looked at promotions; prioritizing great candidates who can improve representation in areas that need it. ResetEra staff can't commit to a timeline as it's important to get right and it can be difficult to find willing candidates.
Q: Question about how to prevent a situation like this from happening again.
A: ResetEra staff feel that communication and community outreach are going to be key. This is where the idea of a community relations team was born from. ResetEra staff also hope to find more room for constructive criticism and will try their best to engage in such discussions to keep them productive and civil. Hopefully with these measures it will be easier to spot areas where changes in policy and approach are needed.
Q: Concerns that recent communications have had a large focus on the effects on staff.
A: ResetEra staff recognize that they haven't communicated as well as they should have at times and they apologize for that. There are real concerns for the wellbeing of the staff, but that can be addressed in more appropriate times and places.
The following is a summary from a meeting that took place on November 24th, 2019 involving ResetEra staff and the TransEra community. As the facilitator of this meeting, I can attest that the information contained within is accurate and best represents what was said from both parties. Additionally, this summary has been reviewed and approved by both ResetEra staff and TransEra community. It is being provided to you, the community, in the interests of openness and accountability.
I would like to personally thank everyone involved in the meeting for participating and taking the time to care about the ResetEra community. I believe the meeting was successful in its objectives and productive for everyone involved. If anyone from the meeting would like to chime in here and share their perspective, they are more than welcome to do so.
Meeting Summary
The meeting opened with a foreword from SweetNicole.
Immediately following the foreword, ResetEra staff started the conversation with an apology from the General Manager on behalf of the staff, and a guarantee that policy revisions will be coming soon. Implementing those revisions will be a top priority as they close out 2019.
After that the meeting followed a question and answer format, a summary of which can be found below.
Following the Q&A, the meeting closed with thanks from everyone involved with commitments to continue to work together to help build a better community and environment for all. The situation has been a learning experience for ResetEra staff and opened their eyes to areas where they can make improvements. They apologized again for the hurt that TransERA has faced and hope that their commitment to action will restore faith. There will be more details in their upcoming thread.
Question and Answer
Q: Question about what type of moderation changes the community will see as part of the policy overhaul.
A: There will be a more detailed announcement at a later date, but there will be longer bans for bigotry across the board, and new measures to remove relevant repeat offenders more quickly. Moderation will continue to be a team effort, and bans will still be discussed, but individual staff with relevant perspectives will have greater latitude to remove problem users in a thread more quickly.
Q: Concern about drive-by trolling in sensitive threads, especially posts that are intended to be antagonistic to the trans community.
A: As part of the policy review, ResetEra staff is specifically looking at ways that they can more effectively address microaggressions and posters that use them to disrupt sensitive discussions. Genuine questions are fine, but obstinately talking over marginalized members who have lived these issues is not.
Q: Concern about bad-faith posters and how best to address them.
A: Communities tend to be more familiar with the threads that affect them, and therefore may be able to identify bad faith posters and subtle trolls better than staff. Users can send detailed reports to provide relevant context or example posts (either through the report system or by PM to a mod/mod captain). If a pattern of behavior can be shown, this makes it much easier for the mod team to address the issue.
Q: Concern about some members asking inappropriate questions in sensitive threads.
A: ResetEra staff will try to be more proactive in making guideline staff posts in sensitive threads. As part of this, ResetEra staff can point out threads and resources where people acting in good faith can have their questions answered.
Q: Question about how staff will identify community unrest.
A: The staff will work to establish a community relations team to improve communication between staff and members, and ResetEra staff is exploring ideas like Q&As that might clear up confusion on moderation and site policy. The team will also engage in more direct outreach.
Q: Concern about intentional or willful misgendering (for example, misgendering a transwoman only after finding out that she had done something horrible or criminal).
A: If any poster has intentionally misgendered someone, and ResetEra staff can determine that intent, that poster will be permanently banned.
Q: Question on people asking questions that reinforce bigoted stereotypes (such as on trans athletes) that have already been addressed in a thread.
A: ResetEra staff does have a staff post that specifically addresses the misconceptions on trans athletes, and ResetEra staff bans users that concern troll in sensitive threads. If there is a staff post already in the thread, ResetEra staff will take harsh action against members that ignore it. This is something ResetEra staff has done and will continue to do.
Q: Question on sensitivity/intersectionality training for staff.
A: ResetEra staff tries their best to promote intersectionality by having a widely diverse staff roster, and by having the staff who have relevant perspectives lead moderation discussions. In addition, part of the role of mod captains is to identify any blind spots that moderators may have and to reach out and correct this when noticed.
Q: Question on meetings with other marginalized groups on ERA
A: ResetEra staff has been discussing this extensively over the past week and will touch upon it in their upcoming public post.
Q: Question on restricting warned posters from returning to a thread they were warned in.
A: ResetEra staff feel it makes more sense to simply ban a warned poster if they return to the same thread and continue the behavior they were warned for.
Q: Question about promoting further diversity among staff, and plans to add additional staff in the future.
A: ResetEra staff is going to be looking at bringing on new staff with the same spirit that they looked at promotions; prioritizing great candidates who can improve representation in areas that need it. ResetEra staff can't commit to a timeline as it's important to get right and it can be difficult to find willing candidates.
Q: Question about how to prevent a situation like this from happening again.
A: ResetEra staff feel that communication and community outreach are going to be key. This is where the idea of a community relations team was born from. ResetEra staff also hope to find more room for constructive criticism and will try their best to engage in such discussions to keep them productive and civil. Hopefully with these measures it will be easier to spot areas where changes in policy and approach are needed.
Q: Concerns that recent communications have had a large focus on the effects on staff.
A: ResetEra staff recognize that they haven't communicated as well as they should have at times and they apologize for that. There are real concerns for the wellbeing of the staff, but that can be addressed in more appropriate times and places.
